Ooops: Methylated spirits and japanning = yuk!

[Richard T]

Derek wrote:
"You can speed up the drying by leaving the plane out in the sun."

I don't know what this means, but I think it must be an Australian thing.
Even in Kent Jim, this might be a tall order. It's October and there are several brass monkeys in my shed already.
Thanks Derek - it would be good to be able to do some real japanning, I'll look into it too. Maybe wait til next summer though ..

 

[jimi43]

I repainted an old Record in blue hammerite smooth, no primer. Seems to have doen the trick

This was a Record No.7 done with Hammerite Smooth Blue..again no primer ....

Hi jimi, ironballs.

Brushed or sprayed? Aerosol or proper spraygun?

I'm doing something wrong, but I don't know what..

Cheers, Vann.

It took me a few reads on that one Vann...one of which was making sure I notice punctuation in future!

Mine was brushed on...I used a quite expensive fine fibre brush but you have to be prepared to throw it away afterwards! :wink:

I feel that Derek's cold Japanning is going to turn out better but not in blue obviously! :wink:

Jim

 

[Ironballs]

I painted mine on with a brush (the Hammerite) and applied fairly thickly to allow the brush marks to run out

 

[tekno.mage]

Hammerite is weird paint - I don't get on with it that well myself, but my partner uses it a lot on old tools and machines. He repainted an old Stanley surform body with the smooth bright red (over metal primer) and after two coats it looks like new (or it will when he gets around to making a nice wooden handle for it to replace the nasty plastic original :lol: )

You do need to apply Hammerite quite thickly to avoid brush marks. Do read what it says on the can regarding when you can apply the next coat (especially the hammered versions). There is a "window" of a few hours from when the first coat dries - and if you miss that you have to leave the item for several days before applying the next coat. If you don't do this, you end up with a nasty streaky mess that takes ages to dry properly. I understood this was because hammerite contains two solvents with different drying/curing times.

 

[jimi43]

Ok received the asphaltum yesterday and tried to find the tin of marine varnish I thought I had but haven't got...well I have but it's black!

Tried to get some more and blank stares at the local hardware...unless I want acrylic varnish...I am out of luck apparently.

I guess this has to be solvent based or the asphaltum will not dissolve...what do you think Derek?

In which case...would this YACHT VARNISH be ok?

Jim

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Hi Jim

That yacht varnish should be perfect - I used marine varnish. Indeed, another name for "spar varnish" is marine varnish. So there!

The asphaltum powder looks dark brown, not black. The first coat of the mix will look like dirty water/thin mud. Keep going - it gets darker and more even as you add the coats.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[jimi43]

Hi Jim

That yacht varnish should be perfect - I used marine varnish. Indeed, another name for "spar varnish" is marine varnish. So there!

The asphaltum powder looks dark brown, not black. The first coat of the mix will look like dirty water/thin mud. Keep going - it gets darker and more even as you add the coats.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks Derek.

Yes...I thought it was the same...just a tad worried that in today's Nanny state they had extracted the Mojo out of "marine varnish" that actually dissolves asphaltum to protect the scrotes that sniff it instead of allowing natural selection to take place! :wink:

Everything I came across at the local hardware store was "water based" this and "acrylic" that...

Will order some of that this morning and get on with it with no further ado!

Cheers shipmate!

Jim

 

[GazPal]

Some reasonable information and formulae for Japanning;


http://www.cranialstorage.com/wood/elmo ... l#auto_top

 

[warrenr]

Hi

Another cheaper source of asphaltum powder (refSKU: IRGASP01) is Itaglio ( http://www.drupalstuff.co.uk/category/resists-grounds) a London based printmaker supplier. The cost of 500g including postage is £8.93.

Regards
Richard

 

[jimi43]

Hi

Another cheaper source of asphaltum powder (refSKU: IRGASP01) is Itaglio ( http://www.drupalstuff.co.uk/category/resists-grounds) a London based printmaker supplier. The cost of 500g including postage is £8.93.

Regards
Richard

That's WAY better than my supplier...mostly because of the postage cost from TN Lawrence...it was a fiver for just that bit...total nearly £14

Thanks for the tip

Jim

 

[jimi43]

Some reasonable information and formulae for Japanning;


http://www.cranialstorage.com/wood/elmo ... l#auto_top

That is interesting reading indeed GP! And reinforces my thought that the asphaltum has to dissolve in the marine varnish so it has to be solvent based.

I wonder which method is best...

Jim

 

[GazPal]

I wonder which method is best...

Jim

From a "Just in case something goes wrong" perspective, I'd approach the use of pre-made varnish as a carrier medium/solvent/hardener with a degree of caution during the experimental stages. This is simply because the combined mixture could potentially separate if there's a clash between ingredients. Ingredient "X" in the varnish being a potential problem.

Instead of adding Asphaltum to marine varnish, why not instead use a pre-coloured varnish? Especially since the more modern carrier medium (Varnish) can be bought coloured or clear and then tinted using disolved earth pigment/lamp black.

Shellac disolved using Turpentine is among the more traditional carrier mediums for Lamp Black (Soot) when Japanning.

I hope this helps;

http://wkfinetools.com/tMaking/z_readin ... own-ne.pdf